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Camden business in need of toys after donation box theft

Camden, N.J. (WTXF) - A Camden business is in need of toys after someone stole from their donation box that was supposed to benefit kids.

"When we heard about the toys being stolen we were pretty hurt," said Vania Abdul-Badee. She was heartbroken to find the box set up to collect toys near her office nearly empty Sunday.

"There's one toy actually it's not even a toy. It's a gift set of nail polish. That's all that they left," she said. When she left her job 360 Marketing & PR Saturday evening she says the box had about 10 to 15 donated gifts inside.

"We collected some toys. We also purchased a few toys ourselves and then we had some tenants put toys into the box," she said. Her office is housed inside a building called Co-Work Street located on Market Street in Camden. It's a building of shared office space for various companies and individuals.

Vania and her business partner were collecting toys for a fundraiser for an organization called Rising Leaders Global. The toys are presented to about 50 children in Camden. They took part last year too and shared video of the event.

"We are very community oriented. We love giving back to the community," she said. The plan is for the kids to get the toys during a skating party this Thursday but now Vania says they have nothing and not much time left to regroup. They're hoping someone can step in and help with last minute donations.

"We know it's a hard time for a lot of people and we don't expect Xboxes but there are stores you can get toys or little gift items for really cheap," she says. Even more than catching the thief she wants to make sure these kids have smiles on their faces and at least one gift that they may not have otherwise this holiday season.

"We're feeling very disheartened because we can't understand why anyone would want to take from children who don't have much to begin with and who look forward to this event every year," said Vania.

The thief emptied the toy box and also helped themselves to a laptop, space heater and other small things around the office Vania says. She also says the doors were locked and there were no signs of forced entry. The building does not have security cameras. The owner has filed a police report.

If you'd like to donate toys go to http://360mpr.com/ call them at 856-295-1204. They need the donations by Thursday morning.